Previously, underestimated Samsung has over the last 3 years made a mark on the global electronics market, especially the mobile phone sub-category riding on the new found love for their smart phones and tablets. In Uganda, the company holds between 10-15% of the handset market, something they intend to push higher, with the Samsung Galaxy S4 their latest addition to the now very popular Galaxy series.
At the sidelines of the Samsung Galaxy S4 launch, The CEO Magazine’s Mark Keith Muhumuza talked to Robert Ngeru, the Chief Operating Officer, Samsung East Africa about Samsung’s game plan for East Africa and the future of smartphones in a region where people still struggle to put food in their mouth every night.
You’ve just completed the launch of the Samsung S4 in Uganda, how have the other generation of Samsung Smartphones performed in the country?
I would say the results have been good though they could be better; Uganda still lags behind Kenya and Tanzania in terms of Samsung smart phone sales. However, this is fast changing with the mobile operators focusing more and more on data as a driver of revenue and growth. The partnership we have entered into with Airtel to launch the Galaxy S4 is part of our overall strategy to tap into this market development. Going back to the actual devices; the Samsung Pocket and the Samsung S3 which we launched last year have performed well and are now market leaders in their respective fields. We fully expect this trend to continue with the Galaxy S4 as the market for Smartphones in Uganda expands.
How different is the Samsung S4 from the S3?
The Samsung Galaxy S4 is the natural successor to the highly successful S3, it has many of the features you can find in the Galaxy 3 and many new ones. First of all on the hardware side, changes have been made to the actual physical appearance of the phone which is now slightly thinner, longer and lighter to give it a sleeker and more elegant feel.
Additionally a newer and much more powerful rear facing 13Mega pixel camera has been added and lastly the battery has been significantly upgraded meaning you can now go for two days or more without charging depending on usage. On the software side the S4 has the world’s first Full HD Super AMOLED display to showcase images on the screen at their very best. It ensures that tasks are effortless with innovative features that detect your face, voice and motions to enable screen control with no need for finger touch activation.
What is your current market share in Uganda and how has it grown for the last 5years
As far as Smartphones are concerned especially 3G phones, Samsung phones are the market leaders, yet five years ago we were at the bottom of the pile. We have been able to achieve this growth based on the superior nature of the devices we sell which are constantly improving and the quality of our supply, distribution and after sales services.
How do you plan to grow the market share?
As mentioned earlier, working closely with mobile phone operators will become increasingly important. We also look to introduce a greater variety of 3G smartphones especially at the entry and mid-price range level; this segment is growing very fast and we want our consumers to grow with us.
There are all these launches that you keep having. Is this reactionary to what the competition has been doing on the market?
Let me correct this impression; we are not holding the launches of these phones as a reaction to competition, we do so in order to bring the product to market and let our customers know what the devices can do for them. Our global launches are well planned in advance and based on the readiness of the product, our ability to distribute them effectively and our capacity to support the device post sale. Uganda for example was chosen as the third country after South Africa and Kenya to launch the S4 based on this criteria.
There is greater competition in the market at the moment, especially the Smartphone segment with products like The Nokia Lumia, HTC & Apple IPhone. What is Samsung’s strategy to stay relevant and active in a highly competitive marketplace?
In a nutshell our strategy is and will be based on continued and elevated investments in product, personal and commercial processes. The devices that we sell including the highly successful Galaxy series phones which have broken most Smartphone sale records have a superiority both in terms of software applications and hardware features which is the result of the heavy investment the company has made over time in research, innovation and technological advancements. No one spends as much as we do developing our products and no one is putting aside the types of budgets we have projected going forward to keep developing innovative smartphones.
What has been your most successful phone product in terms of sales and customer satisfaction? And why?
Robert Ngeru
The Samsung Galaxy Pocket and the Qwerty have sold very well mainly because of the affordable price and features they have; many of which are normally associated with much more expensive phones . They are high quality mid to entry level smartphones which people purchase before making the decision to buy a more expensive high end phone at the later stage when they have either moved from one demographic to the next, or have become more comfortable with smartphones and wish to upgrade.
What is the effect of phone counterfeits to your sales and how are you making sure that they don’t keep affecting your share of the market?
Counterfeit phone sales are our biggest challenge; they not only reduce our sales by undercutting us via price, they also infringe on our intellectual property, deny the government revenue in form of tax and they pose a serious health risk to users because such phones do not meet the global manufacturing safety standards.
We are currently working with the government and stakeholders to try and eliminate this vice through the joint enforcement of legislation. As a company we have made efforts to protect our customers by introducing an E-warranty system, wherein a customer can send sms to 6585 (type: check*IMEI Number#) before purchase, to know if product is genuine.